A chuckle escaped her, but it wasn’t a pleasant sound. It was resigned, bleak. He didn’t like it on her. He reached over and, when she didn’t pull away, took her hand in his. He savored the bloom of color in her cheeks as he wrapped his fingers around hers. Fortunately, she couldn’t see the effect she had on him—the uptick in his pulse, the tightening of his muscles as he skimmed his thumb over the back of her hand.
“Ours is not, nor will it ever be, a love match. However,” he continued on before she could object, “it can be a partnership. A union based on mutual respect, companionship and, eventually, a family.”
He released her hand, a physical reminder to himself to not push too far. She was softening; that was the most important thing right now.
He pressed the button to summon a flight attendant.
“Two glasses of champagne and a bowl of strawberries, please.” At Briony’s quizzical look, he shot her a smile. “We’re celebrating your first trip beyond the Midwest.”
Most women of his past acquaintance would have giggled or thanked him in a physically demonstrative manner. Briony, however, rolled her eyes as she chuckled.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had champagne before five o’clock.”
“Then I’m happy to be your first.” She didn’t even bat an eye at the innuendo, just shook her head and stood.
“I’ll be right back.”
He stood, as manners dictated. Briony started to walk past. The plane quaked again, then pitched to the right. Briony cried out as she tumbled into him. He anchored himself and wrapped his arms around her. The plane steadied a moment later.
“Apologies, Your Highnesses,” the captain said over the speaker. “Should be clear sailing for a while now.”
The speaker fell silent. The soft instrumental music still played in the background. The engines of the plane hummed in the background. But the loudest sound of all was the thudding of his pulse. It didn’t just thunder in his ears; he could feel the rush of blood pumping through his veins, the awareness crackling across his skin as he held Briony in his arms once more.
Her scent curled around him, sandalwood mixed with something light and floral that conjured images of flowering trees and the brilliant blue skies of spring. His hand skimmed up her back, grazing the silky curls that tumbled down nearly to her waist. He wanted to bury his hands in her hair, inhale the scent of her as he trailed his lips up her neck—
“Cass?”
He blinked. Briony sucked in a shuddering breath as her chest rose and fell.
Damn it. He had nearly given in, all because of one accidental touch. If he let lust rule his decision-making, he would be just like his aunt, just like his father.
Don’t give in.
He gently released her, returned her oblique stare without a word, then watched as she disappeared into the back of the plane. Moments later, Julie, one of the flight attendants, bustled out with a friendly smile, a bowl of bright red strawberries and two glasses of champagne. He nodded his thanks, his gaze affixed to the bubbles rising to the top of the golden liquid.
The genuine interest in his future bride was an unexpected and unwelcome conundrum. He had heard enough of what Daxon’s wandering eye had done to Alecine and countless other women to know he would never indulge in an affair after he took his vows. What little Alecine had said on the subject over the years had been the driving force for his adding a fidelity clause to the marriage contract. His own liaisons up to this point had been indulgences for the sake of pleasure, always with the knowledge that one day he would be tied in matrimony to a faceless bride. Sex would be a part of that relationship. Heirs were needed.
But he hadn’t anticipated that the brief fantasy he’d entertained in his week of being Cass Morgan would not only continue, but flare up into something he struggled to control.
Which left him at a crossroads, he acknowledged as Briony walked back out and sat across from him, her face turned away from him. He needed to stay objective when it came to his future wife. But he couldn’t withdraw too much and risk her becoming dissatisfied with their arrangement. If he could keep himself under control, then he could woo her as he’d wooed countless other women without surrendering himself to dangerous emotions.
He raised his champagne flute. When she followed suit, he clinked his glass to hers.
“To new adventures.”
She narrowed her gaze as she took as a cautious sip. “To the unknown.”
CHAPTER SIX
CASSSPUNHERaround an elegant ballroom, crystal chandeliers twinkling overhead. She laughed up at him as she savored the warm appreciation in his eyes.
But then the warmth faded, replaced by cold calculation. She started to pull away. But as she turned, Stacy and Ella confronted her, yelling about homework and dirty rooms and laundry. Trey stood behind them, belly bloated, eyes bloodshot and a can of beer dangling listlessly from his fingers...
Briony woke with a gasp. She blinked against the bright light filtering in through the plane’s windows. The plane’s engines hummed beneath her.
Cass.She was on Cass’s plane flying toward a new country and a new life. Trey and the twins were behind her, in the past. It was as if every mile they flew farther away from Kansas, the more the scales fell from her eyes that had blinded her to how bad things had truly gotten. How long had she given her entire self, her whole identity, to the purpose of supporting her family? How long would she have gone on doing so if Cass hadn’t shown up in her bar?
She brushed hair out of her face with trembling hands. She could picture the sneer on Trey’s face the last time she’d seen him, smell the alcohol on his breath the numerous nights she’d dragged him to his bed. She could feel the heat of his tears soaking through her shirt when she’d held him as he’d cried for her mother. She could hear her own desperate pleas falling on deaf ears as she opened yet another statement from an online gambling site with Trey’s increasing debts.